The October Effect

On October 7, the worst single act against the Jewish people since the Holocaust changed Israel forever and sent shockwaves all around the Middle East and the world. Approaching the one-year anniversary of the massacre, the war in Gaza, the campaign against Hezbollah, and more broadly Israel’s existential struggle against the Iranian axis cannot only be treated as a regional conflict, as it swelled into a geostrategic issue. As the Israeli war cabinet is focusing on the day after in Gaza while trying to sequence its struggle against Hezbollah, an increasingly aligned Russian-Iranian-Chinese axis is redefining the security landscape of the region, while the U.S and European support for Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza wavers. This strategic realignment happens against the backdrop of a coordinated lawfare waged against Israel through the hijacking of UN institutions and massive waves of antisemitism sweeping through the West, endangering the Jewish diaspora.